Mayor Rob Ford’s violation of the conflict of interest act takes the city into new territory.

Toronto’s civic government is teetering on the edge of the unknown as Mayor Rob Ford fights to overturn a ruling set to eject him from office after two stormy years.

Justice Charles Hackland’s ruling that Ford broke the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, and must “vacate” the mayor’s office, pushed the city Monday into what Councillor John Parker called “the vortex of the unknown.”

Hackland suspended his ruling for 14 days to give city council a chance to react. Ford’s lawyer, Alan Lenczner, is headed to Divisional Court to launch an appeal and ask for a stay of the ruling pending the appeal’s outcome.

John Mascarin, a municipal law expert who was not a party to the trial, said the court is likely to grant such a stay. That would leave the mayor with a legal sword over his head. Lenczner said he expects the appeal to be heard by mid-December or early January, with a decision “a few weeks later.”

If the bid for a stay fails, Ford will cease to be mayor of Toronto on Dec. 10. Councillors would hold an emergency meeting to decide whether to elect one of their own as a caretaker mayor to serve the two remaining years, or to settle the question with a $7 million citywide mayoral byelection.

Lenczner believes the ruling’s wording would allow Ford to run in a byelection. Mascarin, however, said it appears to preclude Ford from seeking office before the October 2014 election.

Outside his second-floor office, a grim-faced Ford told a crush of reporters: “I’m going to appeal it and I’m going to get on with my job.

“This comes down to left-wing politics. The left wing wants me out of here and they’ll do anything in their power. I’m going to fight tooth and nail to hold on to my job,” Ford said, adding he’s “a fighter” who, if forced out, will run again as soon as he is allowed.

But the crisis surrounding him deepened with news that Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, Ford’s loyal defender and de facto whip at council meetings, quit executive committee and severed ties with the administration.

“My constituents are very clearly telling me I should be quitting (executive committee) because of the judgment,” said Mammoliti, who had been unhappy with roles being offered him in a mid-term shakeup.

“My gut is telling me that I should be quitting because there’s a lot of work to be done in council and it’s going to take all of us to do it and we have to forget about our partisanship for the next few months and make this thing work.”

Council meets Tuesday and Wednesday and it’s expected there will be questions from councillors regarding the next steps. It’s unclear if Ford will be at the meeting. His high school football team, the Don Bosco Eagles, is competing in the Metro Bowl and the mayor has said he would be there. The game starts at 8 p.m. and the winning team will be the regional champion.

It was Ford’s love of football coaching that became the source of his current problems.

The ruling stems from Ford’s decision at a February council meeting to speak about and vote on a requirement that he repay $3,150 in donations to his private football foundation improperly solicited from lobbyists.

Hackland wrote: “In view of the respondent’s leadership role in ensuring integrity in municipal government, it is difficult to accept an error in judgment defence based essentially on a stubborn sense of entitlement (concerning his football foundation) and dismissive and confrontational attitude to the integrity commissioner and the (council) code of conduct.

“In my opinion, the respondent’s actions were characterized by ignorance of the law and a lack of diligence in securing professional advice, amounting to willful blindness.”

Clayton Ruby, the lawyer who argued the conflict of interest allegation in court, said Ford has only himself to blame.

“Today’s decision shows that when you break the rules, there’s a price to pay,” said Ruby, a prominent constitutional lawyer who argued the case pro bono for Toronto resident Paul Magder, who made the conflict complaint.

“It’s important for the courts to assert that nobody is above the law, Rob Ford included . . . Rob Ford has said all along that he did this for the (football player) kids. He deserves credit for working with those kids, but he should have remembered that he had an obligation to those kids to set a good example for them . . . While we’re pleased to have won this case, we’re also saddened by it.

“It is tragic that the elected mayor of a great city should bring himself to this, and I use that language advisedly — Rob Ford did this to Rob Ford. It could so easily have been avoided. It could have been avoided if Rob Ford had used a bit of common sense and if he had played by the rules.”

Councillor Adam Vaughan, who is considering running for mayor, said Torontonians can rest assured that, no matter what happens with Ford, council is ready and able to lead the city.

“Council meets tomorrow and will make appointments to committees for the next two years; our budget launch is Thursday and cities — without our mayor — are talking to Ottawa about infrastructure funding,” Vaughan said. “Council finds consensus, day in and day out, on hundreds of issues. Yes, there will be debates, but it’s time now for council to lead.”

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